The convention was presided over by NRMU president Harbhajan Singh Sidhu while All India Railwaymen’s Federation (AIRF) general secretary Shiv Gopal Mishra was the chief guest and former MLA Anil Vij was the guest of honour.

All the leaders strongly opposed the scheme of handing over the railway works to contractors by introducing privatisation stating that the contractors did not pay minimum wages to the workers. They said the ban on recruitment in the railways was imposed in 1990 and since then, over 3 lakh posts were lying vacant.

The railway employees regretted that efforts were being made to hand over the railway work to the private sector. “The situation would get worse because only trained employees having an expertise in track maintenance could do the job with perfection while the private agencies would employ raw and inexperienced persons at low wages,” the leaders alleged. Sidhu claimed that 4 lakh posts had been surrendered since the 1990 ban on recruitment.

AIRF general secretary Mishra said the federation had handed over a memorandum on the anomalies in the Sixth pay commission report which had not dealt fairly with the station superintendents, senior supervisors, guards and other categories. He warned of an agitation if the demand of employees were not met.